Optic nerve head three-dimensional shape analysis.

Ella Maria Kadas,Sunil Kumar Yadav

doi:10.1117/1.jbo.23.10.106004

Ella Maria Kadas, Sunil Kumar Yadav

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jbo.23.10.106004

Copy DOI

Abstract

We present a method for optic nerve head (ONH) 3-D shape analysis from retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT). The possibility to noninvasively acquire in vivo high-resolution 3-D volumes of the ONH using spectral domain OCT drives the need to develop tools that quantify the shape of this structure and extract information for clinical applications. The presented method automatically generates a 3-D ONH model and then allows the computation of several 3-D parameters describing the ONH. The method starts with a high-resolution OCT volume scan as input. From this scan, the model-defining inner limiting membrane (ILM) as inner surface and the retinal pigment epithelium as outer surface are segmented, and the Bruch's membrane opening (BMO) as the model origin is detected. Based on the generated ONH model by triangulated 3-D surface reconstruction, different parameters (areas, volumes, annular surface ring, minimum distances) of different ONH regions can then be computed. Additionally, the bending energy (roughness) in the BMO region on the ILM surface and 3-D BMO-MRW surface area are computed. We show that our method is reliable and robust across a large variety of ONH topologies (specific to this structure) and present a first clinical application.

Highlights

Many neurological and ophthalmological conditions affect the retina
As such, investigating the optic nerve head (ONH) is central to the diagnosis of many disorders affecting the optic nerve like glaucoma,[6] idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH),[7,8] optic neuritis (ON),[9,10] and optic neuropathies of other etiology, for example, in the context of multiple sclerosis (MS) or neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD).[11,12,13]
We see that our method scores highly at every parameter presented, with lowest intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.905 for Central ONH thickness (CONHT), and highest 0.998 for Vcup

Summary

Introduction

Two landmark structures of this affection are the macula and the optic nerve head (ONH). In the case of the macula, several studies and approaches have already been published in order to provide a better insight into the definition of healthy structure and shape.[1,2,3,4,5] ONH represents the part in which all retinal ganglion cell axons gather to leave the eye toward the brain. As such, investigating the ONH is central to the diagnosis of many disorders affecting the optic nerve like glaucoma,[6] idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH),[7,8] optic neuritis (ON),[9,10] and optic neuropathies of other etiology, for example, in the context of multiple sclerosis (MS) or neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD).[11,12,13]

Methods

Results

Conclusion